11/23/12

I love Oreo's.
I do, BUT....
I cannot take all those chemicals in them.
Sure as a kid I could eat a ton of Oreo's and never have that "crash & burn" feeling.
But now that I'm older, if I have a few, about an hour later I feel like taking a nap for days.
Always wondered what would Oreo's taste like without all those chemicals?
And, what would they taste like if I used high-quality cocoa powder?
I just always felt as if the chocolate Oreo could use a lot more deeper, darker chocolate flavor.
And I wanted an Oreo filling that did NOT leave a waxy coating in your mouth.
Don't you hate that?
So I made my own....

They look hard to make, but really they aren't if you do them in steps.
Dough and filling made 1-2 days ahead.
Roll and bake next.
The only hard part, if you have to call it that?
The rolling out, as the dough is a bit sticky, so you need patience to roll, cut, and place on cookie sheet.
After that, it's easy. I mean who doesn't like the "filling the cookie" part?
Right?
These cookies look like they are soft, but trust me, they are crunchy. If you look closely at the bitten cookie you will see the "crunch".
This is the best high quality dark cocoa powder.
From King Arthur Flour.
Invest in some. It has so many other uses.
Oh yeah, I always keep Oreo dough next to my healthy green drinks. Ironic?

If you can’t find double dutch dark cocoa powder then use
regular DARK cocoa powder but you might need more than ¾ cup; possibly a cup?
Not sure since I haven’t made it with regular cocoa powder. I highly suggest investing in some double
dutch dark cocoa powder. King Arthur Flour
sells it.

If you don’t want mint filling then you substitute the mint
extract for vanilla extract; use ¾ ts vanilla extract. Do a taste test of filling to see if it needs more mint.

I used 4 inch cookie cutters, feel free to use 2 inch or
whatever shape you desire.

Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Next add in the dry mixture (the flour
mixture). And mix until combined. It will be a thick, sticky dough. Place dough
in plastic wrap, shape into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and flatten into a
disc.

Chill dough for at least a couple hours. When ready to use, let it sit at room temp
for 20 minutes or when it’s ready/easy to roll.
Don’t let dough get too warm; we want it to stay fairly cool.

Dust your board and rolling pin with cocoa powder, and roll
out dough to about 1/8 of an inch thickness

Cut out circles with a 4” or 2" round cutter or whatever
shapes you desire. Use a thin metal
spatula under the dough to move it to the cookie sheet.

Place a couple inches apart on cookie sheet. They don’t
spread much, but if your dough is too warm they might. If you think your cookie dough got too warm
then just pop them back in the fridge before baking.

Knead the scraps of dough together, re-roll and cut out
until all or most of the dough is used.

Bake 10 - 12 minutes, or until almost firm. You need to let these cool on the cookie sheet
(about 8-10 minutes); they need to set up.

Mint filling:

Using a hand or stand mixer cream together butter, powdered
sugar, vanilla, mint, and salt on medium speed 5-7 minutes until light, creamy
and fluffy.

I found that using a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip
worked best. But you can use a ziploc
bag with a hole in the corner or simply use a spoon/knife to place filling into
center of cookie.

My boyfriend and I recently had a discussion about whether or not I would allow my future babies to eat Oreos and I was like HELLZ NO. I'll make them myself! He was doubtful...but I am SO making him these to show him that I know best!

about vanilla sugar blog

Unique eats, creative recipes, as simple as possible.What drives me to create? Seeing dishes in restaurants, meals created on TV, recipes in cookbooks/online, and I always think to myself why didn’t they add this or why did they leave out that? Love to question, love to research, and love to learn about combining different flavors and textures in recipes.Recipe creations please email: vanillasugarblog@aol.com